Pitzer Spotlights

Pitzer Students Help Create the Claremont Equestrian Team One of more than 150 Clubs and Organizations Available to Students

New this year to five undergraduate Claremont Colleges, the Claremont Equestrian team has hit the ground running, and five Pitzer students have proven to be fundamental members.

Samantha Field ’09, is the team’s co-captain. She has attended every show, done well in competition, and has helped to register the team officially with the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA). One of the small handful of women who have been pulling for an equestrian team from the beginning, Sam has been a founding member, attending meetings from the very start of this year and helping to recruit several additional team members." I'm so happy that we have an equestrian team...the girls are great, and I've already made some wonderful friends. Although the team takes a lot of time, there's no other way I'd like to spend it, Field said.

Jaime Swarthout ’09, is the strongest competitor on the team, showing at the Intermediate level. At the team’s first hunt-seat show in November, she qualified for a jump-off and won both of her flat classes, stealing the individual High Point award for the weekend. All she needs is one more competition for her to qualify for regionals in April.

Kate Isenberg ’10, is perhaps one of the most determined members of the team. Her broken foot barely healed, she showed up at the competition hosted by CSU Fullerton on Dec. 3 with a case of mononucleosis and insisted on riding as planned. She put in two fabulous rides, and was awarded third- and fourth-place ribbons.

Courtney Leverette '10, has come to almost every competition. When she isn't riding, she's helping to hold horses, polish boots, and make sure that everyone is where they need to be.

Morgan DeSanto '09, is the team's secretary, keeping track of team attendance, records, and so on, helping the team run as smoothly as possible.

The team competes in shows run by the IHSA, which is unique in that it requires riders to show horses they’ve never ridden before. The riders arrive at the show-grounds very early in the morning to watch all of the horses warm up over jumps. Then, riders draw horses’ names out of a hat to determine which horse they’ll ride in their jumping class, and which horse they’ll ride in their flat class.

Riders aren’t allowed any time to warm up the horse they’ll be riding. Shortly before their class, they mount and then head into the ring with no time to get used to their horse.

The goal of this system is to test how skilled the competitors are at riding all different types of horses, and it is different than any other kind of equine competition found in the United States.

The Claremont team is hoping to expand the number of members and to become a formidable threat to other competitors in the Southern California area.

The Claremont Equestrian team joins more than 150 clubs and organizations open to students at the five Claremont undergraduate colleges.